Archive for the ‘friends of the show’ Category

Bitchy Resting Face has been one of the success stories of the year, but it’s not proving so successful for Leah:

Last weekend whilst discussing my historic lack of success with menfolk, my friend commented that I can’t complain as I do have a “massive fuck-off vibe”.

I’m not denying this for a moment. I spent the entirety of my teenage years carefully cultivating an attitude that I hoped was halfway between Morrissey’s supposed asexuality and Destiny’s Child’s ‘Independent Woman’, as a way, I guess, to hide the fact I was a bit scared of all that funny business.

The thing is, this has kinda stuck and as I approach my twentieth birthday I realise I have absolutely no clue of how to not give the impression that I would rather eat my own vomit than talk to the person trying to chat me up.

It sounds ridiculous, but answer me this: how do I make myself seem more approachable after years of trying to do the exact opposite?

TOO LATE. The wind changed and your face has stuck that way*. By the grand old age of 20, all habits are so deeply ingrained that it’ll be IMPOSSIBLE to change them. Enjoy dying alone, Leah!

Oh, don’t look at me like that, Leah – I’m just joshing, no need for the Murder Stare! By recognising the problem, you’ve already begun to tackle it. Practice in non-pulling situations. For instance: when in the company of other humans, try to arrange your features in such away that they don’t appear hostile. Replicate the open body language of less forbidding characters than you. Learn to ask people a few polite questions about their lives. Feign interest in the answers. If you puke in your mouth, disguise it behind a welcoming smile.

That’s for starters. Readers, what would you recommend Leah try next in her deMorrissification program? Advise in the comments.

*Seriously though, does anyone understand what that expression is about?

We’d also recommend seeing AMTfriends Isy Suttie and Bridget Christie, and…heck, there are too many great shows to list here, but go to the comments to tell us about your top picks of the fringe offerings.

And please, if you’re in Edinburgh at 1pm on 25th August, pop into Word Power Books to see us reading from our book as part of the book fringe festival! As added bait, Martin the Sound Man will be wheeled out to serenade the audience; and it’s FREE. It would be delightful to see you there, and maybe we can all go for some deep-fried Irn Bru afterwards.

It’s Halloween soonish, and AMT! pal Brendy from Pappy’s Fun Club is putting on a special scary show which we thought you might enjoy. It’s called The Institute, and will be on at the Pleasance Islington 29th October – 1st November; it’s one of those Modern theatrical jobbies where you follow the actors around while all sorts of Things happen. Totally meta, yeah? A bit like The Man Who Knew Too Little or something.

It stars comedy princelings The Penny Dreadfuls, and you might even catch sight of Helen or Martin, who are helping out! Terrifying! Etc.

Attention fellows! AMT! jingle alum Gavin Osborn has a new album out this week; it is called Meeting Your Heroes and you can buy it from:iTunes, Amazon or Banquet Records. Which we recommend, because it will be very good.

In other musical news, according to Hugo from London the ‘Hitler has only got one ball’ song is founded in truth! He writes:

You may be interested to know that despite your research Hitler did in fact only have one ball! As did Franco!

An apparently all too common injury from the first world war it seems.

But the chat about said song in Episode 94 has caused some consternation for Sarah from Gaytown:

I’m entirely confused about this “Hitler only had one ball” thing.
I’ve never heard this song – but desperately wish I had.
I asked my history teacher and he sent me an email back asking him to stop being inappropriate over emails so that I don’t get into any trouble.
What’s going on? I don’t really mind one way or the other about Hitler’s man bits, but a think you guys singing this song for us would definitely make my email embarrassment go away.

I’m not sure us singing monorchid wartime ditties would help anyone’s embarrassment go away, but if you want to read up on Hitler’s nads, Sarah, then here are a couple of useful articles upon the matter. Study them well, and you are bound to ace your Political Undercarriages of History exam!

We know we’ve been slacking off our audio-entertainment duties this month, but here’s some noise to fill the whistling silence: the new Radio 4 series from Episode 84 guest star Josie Long. Episode 1 is on the BBC website until Wednesday 25th February, so click HERE to listen to it!

…you might like to see the Voice of those jingles, the wonderful Joanna Neary, perform some of her acclaimed comedy. Especially if you also like theatres in Bloomsbury, giving money to children’s cancer charities, and the comedians Jo Brand, Steven Merchant, Mark Steel, Jo Enright, Tim Minchin, Ed Byrne, Milton Jones, Mat Holness, Dan Antopolski and Robin Ince (in fact if you don’t like at least some of those things, you are perhaps a bit unwell).

So if you fancy spending your Sunday evening laughing your scalp off with the happy side effect of raising money for a very worthy cause, then book yourself a ticket HERE. It is likely to be Very Good Indeed.